P306.6-M budget to upgrade health facilities released

MANILA, Philippines – The budget department on Monday, February 27, approved the release of P306.6 million for the implementation of the Health Facilities Enhancement Program (HFEP) of the health department.

The amount, which will be charged against the Continuing Appropriations under the 2011 National Budget, will be used to upgrade various hospitals and rural health units (RHUs) across the country.

It includes P182.7 million which will be used for buildings and structure outlay and another P123.9 million will be set aside for expenses related to hospital machinery and equipment.

Designed to boost healthcare services across government hospitals and regional health centers, particularly with respect to obstetric and newborn health services, the program has a total programmed appropriation of P7.14 billion under the 2011 budget, with releases amounting to P6.87 billion to date.

The program aims to enable government hospitals to meet key healthcare benchmarks, including those for disaster safety, DOH licensing, and development standards for quality care.

It also seeks to broaden the services of island province hospitals and teaching and training hospitals, as well as upgrade selected DOH medical centers and regional hospitals for specialty/subspecialty services.

In a statement, budget secretary Florencio Abad said, that the newly released funds for the HFEP are “a testament to President Aquino’s unwavering commitment to the Millennium Development Goals, particularly in view of improving maternal health care nationwide.”

Abad added that through the release, the administration hopes to strengthen “both the infrastructure and equipment components in the provision of medical aid so we can better respond to patients in public health facilities.” – Rappler.com